As most of you know, Adobe (boo, hiss) has turned Flash for Linux into abandonware. I thought I had the perfect solution. I've left Flash uninstalled in Firefox relying on smart web designers who implement HTML5 on their pages. Then for sites that still use the Flash technology (that's on its way out) I've used Chrome, which has the Flash substitute "Pepper Flash" built in. Things were working fine until I went to open a web page for a site where I'm taking an online class, one which I've paid a lot of money for. I got the message, "Yo, Linux geek, whacha doin' here without the newest Flash? We don't feel like designing our page so that everyone can access it, so hahahahahahaha you can't come in." Okay, those may not have been the exact words, but you get the gist of it and how I felt about it. It then provided a link to what supposedly was Adobe Flash for Linux, but is really the dated thing that won't work.
Here's what I'm wondering about. Back in the 90s there were some sites so poorly designed that they put code in it to test if you were using Internet Explorer. If you weren't, the site refused you entrance and gave you a link to download IE instead. I know, terrible, terrible web designing. The Opera browser gave you a way around it. It had a setting that let you identify yourself as an IE user even though you really weren't. So what I'm wondering is if maybe it's possible to do the same thing with Pepper Flash. Maybe it can be set to identify itself as Adobe Flash and then, voilà, you enter the lazy web designer's page.
I have written to the people who run the course I'm taking, requesting that I be allowed to download the materials as PDFs and video files, which is all the course really is anyway. They have it set up via A-Flash to prevent anyone from pirating it. I assured them that their stuff wouldn't end up in a torrent somewhere, but who knows if they'll trust me.
For now I'm accessing the stuff with Windows in VirtualBox. To say I'm annoyed would be quite the understatement.
Here's what I'm wondering about. Back in the 90s there were some sites so poorly designed that they put code in it to test if you were using Internet Explorer. If you weren't, the site refused you entrance and gave you a link to download IE instead. I know, terrible, terrible web designing. The Opera browser gave you a way around it. It had a setting that let you identify yourself as an IE user even though you really weren't. So what I'm wondering is if maybe it's possible to do the same thing with Pepper Flash. Maybe it can be set to identify itself as Adobe Flash and then, voilà, you enter the lazy web designer's page.
I have written to the people who run the course I'm taking, requesting that I be allowed to download the materials as PDFs and video files, which is all the course really is anyway. They have it set up via A-Flash to prevent anyone from pirating it. I assured them that their stuff wouldn't end up in a torrent somewhere, but who knows if they'll trust me.
For now I'm accessing the stuff with Windows in VirtualBox. To say I'm annoyed would be quite the understatement.
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